Migrants Are Scrambling To Apply For Asylum In Greece To Avoid Being Sent To Turkey

BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images8 Apr 2016

As the European Union deal with Turkey gets under-way and illegal migrants who have not yet applied for asylum in a EU nation are deported, thousands are rushing to get their paperwork processed in Greece, even if it isn’t their first choice nation.

This article originally appeared in Business Insider UK:

Greece resumed sending back migrants to Turkey on Friday, a move that has also led to a spike in asylum applications.

This is because Greece is allowed to deport migrants that either do not apply for asylum or fail in their claims so therefore it would delay the process in being sent back if they go through the asylum seeking process.

Most of the 200 migrants being sent back are said to be Pakistanis, according to the BBC.

The BBC added that the deportation “process stalled as asylum applications surged.”

European Union members are all trying to thrash out the best way to accommodate the one million migrants arriving in the 28 nation bloc per year, some countries like Greece are struggling to cope with the influx due to its own battered economy.

Greece started sending back refugees to Turkey, as of April 4, if they entered the country illegally from Turkey. The deal also means that for every Syrian migrant arriving in Greece, one will be sent back to Turkey while one Syrian in Turkey will be resettled in the EU.

In order to enforce the deal, the EU are sending 2,300 officials to help enforce the new agreement. That includes security officials and translators.